“So Princess Celestia pulled some strings and set up a few contacts. Basically, what it all boils down to is that we moolight as CIA agents,” Scootaloo explained.
Sweetie Belle nodded. “That way, we have the benefit of both countries' intelligence, both countries benefit from our deeds, but no person is the wiser.”
"And remember, we're paying you not to tell the CIA,” added Apple Bloom.
I nodded. “Okay.” This sounded exactly like something Celestia, ever the Chessmistress, would pull.
After the hot extraction, I had given Andy the rest of the night off and was sitting in the CIC later after showing the three mares to a stateroom where they could rest. I felt tired from the energy-charged helicopter flight, but I felt Andy deserved the break more than I did for his help during our escape.
I thought that it would be more beneficial to run with the radar on rather than off. It seemed likely that the Chinese would pick us up even with it blacked out, so we might as well be able to see.
This gave us mostly static, as I turned up the gain to see as much as possible. It required a lot of attention to pick the details from the clutter, but after a few minutes I spotted what might be that damned stealth ship again. It was unnerving how they managed to show up at the most inconvenient times.
I went down to the number three hold to check how things were going. One of the hazmat-suited men told me to get out and let the experts take care of things. Beyond the plastic sheeting, I saw them working to carefully open the containers that had been brought aboard. Most seemed to contain a kind of fine powder. The containers were being handled inside sealed specimen hoods, but it was not a good feeling to be able to see something that could easily kill me up close. I wanted to be done with this operation more than ever.
Our stealth stalker seemed content to just sit back and watch. We kept expecting them to call in reinforcements if they themselves weren’t going to attack. That seemed to play out when about half an hour after leaving the scene of the operation, we received a radio call from an aircraft.
“This is People’s Republic of China airplane, calling unknown ship. Identify yourself.” The message was in reasonably clear English and didn’t sound very friendly.
We did a little tuning of the radar and picked up the airplane, holding steady at about sixty miles, and thirty thousand feet. Based on the return, it was probably a small fighter.
I debated what to do, eventually deciding not to reply. Perhaps we could lure it in closer, inside our weapons range.
The request came again, sounding more agitated. This time, it also carried a warning. “If you do not identify, you will be presumed hostile and fired upon.” I knew the Chinese had long range anti-ship missiles, and I didn’t doubt that they were pissed enough to use them.
I picked up the microphone, throwing a little bit of accent in my voice to aid my acting. “Jesus, don’t shoot! This is the cargo ship Minnow. We are U.S. flagged.”
Whoever was flying the fighter did not seem to be impressed. “Minnow, you are ordered to remain stationary and submit your ship for inspection.”
“Uh, with all due respect, we have a schedule to follow. We can’t stop for you.”
“Stop at once or you will be fired upon!”
A new voice joined the conversation. It was calm and spoke native English. “PRC aircraft, this is USS Lake Erie. Under what conditions is the cargo ship being stopped?”
There was a flare of electronic emissions on the horizon as the cruiser turned her radar on and lit up the airplane like a spotlight.
The fighter pilot replied, suddenly sounding unsure of himself. “This ship has violated China’s territorial waters and conducted suspicious operations.”
“We have no record of this. Regardless, if you engage a vessel of the United States, we will be forced to engage you.”
There was no reply from the Chinese plane.
We met up with the cruiser a short time later and had a quiet talk on the low powered radio. The Army had been a little worried about sending one of their best field bio weapons teams out with seemingly little protection and had pestered someone until the Navy provided some support. Since the crew of Lake Erie had already been cleared for missions involving us, it made sense to send them again. Once more, I was reminded how was nice it was to have some firepower behind you.
We mentioned to them the stealth ship we suspected of being in the area. The man on the radio was a little surprised, but said that there had been reports of such things.
We split up and headed slowly back to Korea. The cruiser remained behind, between us and the Chinese coast.
As samples were taken from the stolen biological substances, the rest of the container was taken topside and dumped. Each time they did this for a container, the technicians made sure to decontaminate the area where they were working, and I kept a watchful eye on them. I didn’t know the first thing about preventing a biological accident, but it wasn’t the kind of thing that you felt relaxed around. When they eventually got around to dismantling the lab in the number three hold, I was going to have someone clean it out with acid and/or fire.
I wondered how long we were going to stay in the area. The Chinese would be angry about the bio weapons facility, but would they build another one? Had they already done that? Were they still interested in depopulating Africa so they could move in?
A few hours later, we tracked a large slow moving contact on air search radar. Its course appeared to be from somewhere to the north, although we had no way of telling where exactly. It was set to pass just a couple of miles ahead of our course. It looked like a cargo plane or maybe an airliner cruising slowly. Being a possible Chinese aircraft so close to us, I was taking no chances.
Even at maximum gain on the radar, I just barely caught a discernible pattern in the air behind the airplane as it passed ahead of us. It was a small field of tiny specks that appeared to be descending rapidly.
I flipped on the intercom and cranked it to maximum volume. “Everyone to battle stations. Yes, you too, lab rats. We have incoming paratroops. Repeat, paratroops dropping in.”
I sent a quick message to the Navy. I didn’t know how long it would take for help to arrive, but I suspected that it would probably be too late.
Andy’s shotgun was handy in the CIC, but I couldn’t use it with hooves. I went up to the bridge. Andy was there. An AK-47 lay on the instrument panel in front of him. He had on night vision goggles and was checking the sky.
There was nobody in the CIC, but the radar picture was still being fed to the screen in the bridge. I saw it bloom as a few dozen parachutes were opened. This was not good.
I quickly took stock of defending forces. There were eight of us, the three Equestrians, and twelve Army germ people. We could count on the mares to put up a fight, the regular crew had at least experienced combat before, and the scientists were probably next to worthless. They were military, so they at least knew how to use weapons, but this was way outside their job description.
Sweetie Belle barged up the stairs, an assault rifle gripped with magic and a wild look in her eyes. Andy said that he was finally getting a visual on the incoming paratroopers. Sweetie took the night vision from him roughly and stormed back down the stairs.
“I’m going to make sure the bio idiots are getting ready,” I said and ducked down the stairway. I met the group of them coming out of the hold. Most were still dressed in their white suites. All carried M4 assault rifles.
“Get organized,” I said to the one who looked like he was in charge. “We don’t have very long.”
I flew back to the row of staterooms to make sure everyone who was sleeping had gotten up and was getting ready. I went past Apple Bloom, who carried a Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifle modified for hooves. Nika had her AK-47. I debated what to do. I could change to human for the advantage of fingers, or quickly strap pistol in a hoof mount that I had devised. I picked the second option.
Hawker had the foresight to grab a whole bunch of wireless headsets that were tied in with the boat intercom. She passed them out. Jones put one on and took a few others to give to the Equestrian team if she ran across them as she went off to find a gun.
From the time I had first noticed the radar contacts to the point when I had a gun and was ready to go, maybe a minute had passed. I heard shooting on the foredeck. Hopefully someone was firing carefully aimed shots at descending soldiers before they could become a problem. I heard the louder punch of the sniper rifle.
Nika and I made it to the deck. She said she would cover the stern and call if she needed help. I gave her a quick kiss and flew towards the bow.
I saw a couple of parachutes settling into the water, but many more billowing away from the bow where they had been released after the soldiers had landed. I remembered that there had been no other radar contacts outside of the plane that had dropped them. That meant that the soldiers had no backup and also no way to retreat. They were committed to fighting to the end. I hoped I would be on the winning side.
All of the lights on deck were turned on. That made sense. There were not enough sets of night vision goggles to go around to all the good guys, so there was no point in letting the Chinese have the advantage if they’d brought night vision of their own.
I heard all kinds of shooting going on around the foredeck. Between the hold covers, the crane, and miscellaneous deck equipment, there was lots of cover and both sides were taking advantage.
I came to the corner of the shipping containers that were still stacked in front of the superstructure. The Armored Box Launchers were still inside, and were still loaded with the remaining nuclear Tomahawk. I felt slightly uncomfortable covering behind a nuclear missile, but reasoned that the sixty thousand pound bulk of the ABL should protect me. It even had “Armored” right in its name.
Apple Bloom slipped up beside me, carrying her outsized rifle. “They’ve got body armor with shock plates,” she said, shouting over the noise on deck. “Your little pistol might have trouble penetrating.”
Great.
She moved on, taking her .50 caliber rifle with her. I decided to follow, reasoning that while she was probably going towards the shooting, it would be safer than going by myself.
I heard shooting behind me, and felt a moment of panic as I looked back. I realized that it was Andy, firing wildly towards the bow from where he stood on the bridge wing.
I glanced forward again and saw Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo sprint forward using Andy’s fire for cover. As they hit the deck in front of a hail of bullets, I saw one of the invading solders step out from concealment and raise a rocket propelled grenade launcher.
Andy had seen it too and ducked for cover inside the bridge as the grenade leaped at the spot where he had just been. The bridge wing was ripped apart in the explosion and a lot of the bulletproof polycarbonate windows cracked.
Apple Bloom shot the man with the launcher and then moved forward. I considered for half a second going back to check on Andy and take over the helm if he wasn’t all right. I saw movement in the bridge and decided to go after the mare.
The team of Army scientists were moving up the other side of the ship, mostly unnoticed because of the fight that the Equestrians were putting up on the side that I was on. I slid in behind the number two hold cover with the three of them.
I touched the radio headset. “Andy, are you all right?”
“He’s alive but not good,” came Jones’s voice. “I’m with him.”
“Everyone else, status.”
“I’m at the stern,” said Nika. “Jeff is with me. There have been a couple of attempts to climb over the stern rail with grappling hooks.”
“Hawker and I are aft of the number three hold cover,” said Shep. “We’re watching for the same thing on the sides.”
“I’m in the CIC,” reported Penny.
One of the Army men said, “We’re about halfway up the bow, preparing to make a charge.”
The ponies didn’t answer my status request, as they were right beside me. Sweetie said to the radio, “Army, wait one. We’ll do a coordinated attack. Get ready.” She nodded to the other two to make sure they were set before counting down.
When the three of them left cover, so did I. I heard more shooting from behind, and hoped it would be enough cover fire to help us make it to the next hiding place.
The four of us slid in behind the number one hold cover. The Army troops were there, a couple of whom were bleeding. Apple Bloom shouted something in Chinese. She received a reply a moment later, and didn’t appear to like what she heard.
“What was that?” I asked.
“A surrender order.” she said. “They won’t.”
Just then, I caught sight of a grenade hurtling towards us. I shouted and dropped to the deck. I heard it bounce off the top of the number two hold cover and explode somewhere behind me. The thrower had misjudged the distance. We couldn’t expect to be that lucky every time.
I realized that we didn’t have any explosives of our own. That was a shame. We were going to have to do something soon or the enemy grenades would begin finding their mark.
“Fire the fore gun,” I shouted into the radio. The mares looked at me expectantly. I think they realized what my plan was.
Another grenade sailed in, looking like it would be fairly on target. Scootaloo batted at it like she was swatting a fly and it dropped around the corner of the hold cover. We all dived for cover.
The explosion nearly took what remained of my hearing away. The hold covers were all made of relatively thin steel and I worried that fragments may have penetrated. I got up and checked myself. I seemed to be unharmed. Well, apart from my ears. Sweetie Belle was shouting something directly at my face and it took effort to understand her.
“We’ve got to move up and finish this. If we stay here, we’ll get killed eventually, if not right now!”
Just then, the five inch gun located inside the hold cover we were sheltering behind fired. The cover wasn’t open, and the shell blasted right through it, just like I had intended.
“Come on!” I shouted, or at least I think I did. Now I was so deaf I couldn’t even hear my own voice. I charged out, weapon at the ready.
The scene on the other side of the hold cover was ugly. The muzzle blast of the gun had mushroomed the wall of the cover outwards, throwing shrapnel along with the shockwave. There were bodies and parts of bodies directly in front of the jagged hole.
Everyone else nearby had been blown off their feet. A few were still alive, but had obviously been subjected to a severe pressure shock. Some bled from the nose and ears.
The good guys secured the area and began stripping weapons and armor from the Chinese so they would pose less threat while under guard. For a few of them, it was unpleasantly discovered that the armor was the only thing holding their bodies together.
The pile of dead and wounded were left under care of the eight uninjured Army people. Of the other four, one was dead and two were badly injured. The last, who only had a gash on his forehead from a piece of shrapnel, helped the Equestrians and I carry the injured friendlies back to the medical room. I called ahead to have Jones waiting. I also ordered whoever could reach the main radio to call for help.
There was blood everywhere by the time we got the wounded men to the operating table. I was pretty sure none of it was mine, but I still had a lot soaking me. Liquids spread a lot, making it look like there was more spilled than there really was, but this was shockingly much. Jones looked a little overwhelmed, but went to work as quickly as she could.
I told Nika, Jeff, Hawker, and Andy to stay where they were to make sure we would have no more soldiers trying to come aboard. Each of the mares seemed to have some experience with combat medicine, so they stayed with Jones.
I went up to the bridge. Shep was at the helm and was on the radio. Lake Erie had come through for us again, and there was a Navy helicopter bringing in two corpsmen with their equipment. There was only room for one helicopter aboard, so they would have to rope down to the deck.
Andy had little pieces of metal and polycarbonate embedded in his skin and maybe some permanent hearing loss, but he would probably be fine. The bridge wing where the RPG had hit was a mass of twisted metal. There was a hole where the door leading to it used to be that would have to be fixed eventually.
I went down to the deck to direct the helicopter. The two men were winched down to the deck, bringing with them a bag full of pints of blood and other supplies.
“What happened here?” I thought one of them asked. I couldn’t tell because of the ringing in my ears and the sound of the helicopter. At any rate, he didn’t need to know the classified things we had been through, and there was no time to explain anyway. I showed the two of them to the medical room.
After that, I went back to the bow to check the situation there. I was pondering what to do with the survivors. With the arrival of the Navy Corpsmen, Sweetie Belle came out of the medical room and I asked her for a suggestion.
“Despite my job, I’m not one to execute people. Put them in a life raft. If they die of exposure, it’s almost like it isn’t our fault.”
That sounded reasonable enough to me. With the help of the Army team, I got all the bodies, living or dead, into the water and threw out a couple of inflatable boats. If there were any soldiers still out there that had parachuted into the water and missed the fight completely, they would probably come upon the scene shortly and help the rest. In the meantime, I made sure Shep had the throttles pinned to keep Heinlein moving away as fast as possible.
I almost didn’t realize that I was on the verge of collapse until the deck came rushing up to meet my face.